


And We Will Put The Lonesome On The Shelf

by NeedleToTheGroove (melissa7187)



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Baseball and babies, Disney honeymoons, F/F, Fluff, Indoor camping and shopping cart rides, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melissa7187/pseuds/NeedleToTheGroove
Summary: A collection of interconnected Chaubrey one-shots.





	1. After An Afternoon

“Aubrey, I really don’t know what else to tell you”, the RA tried to empathize with the emotional girl sitting on the edge of her bed. “We usually like to let you guys sort this stuff out…”

“She puts her feet on all of my stuff, Bridget!” Aubrey exclaimed while standing up, running her hands through her hair and pacing. “How can I stay in a dorm room with someone like that? Last week, I came back from class and she was sitting on my bed in her  _underwear_. There has to be something that you can do. Please?”

Bridget sighed and flipped open her laptop, scanning through her e-mails and reading over one for a moment. “I talked to the residential coordinator and we might have to transfer you out of this building. There’s just nowhere else to place you and you’d probably have to move across campus to Lincoln Hall.”

“But-“

“I’m sorry, Aubrey, but I don’t know what else to tell you. You’ve already had two different roommates since you’ve started here and I can try, but I don’t think that there’s anything else I can do for you. Are you sure that you can’t just work it out?” Bridget pleaded with the girl, not wanting to deal with this kind of issue on top of her growing piles of homework. Aubrey was…picky and definitely making her job as a resident assistant difficult.

“Her feet were on my dresser, Bridget!” Aubrey scowled, in disbelief that this girl was making this such a minor issue. “I have to put my hands on that to get my stuff and that’s so disgusting. My father would freak out if he heard about the sanitary conditions at this school…”

“I think we may have one potential opening down the hall, but I’ll-“

“-I’ll take it.”

“I’ll have to talk to them first, Aubrey”, Bridget firmly warned while shaking her head. “You really want out, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.” Aubrey looked down at her lap, her face becoming red as she felt ashamed of being unable to have a working relationship with any of her roommates so far. “I just…this wasn’t how things were supposed to be, you know? I just wanted to live with someone that I could get alone with and that I could actually relate to.”

“Cheer up, Bree”, the RA soothed while sending an e-mail to her coordinator to alert her to the potential move. “We’ll get you with someone that you can get alone with. All is not lost, okay? I’ll call you in a day or two if we can move you in.”

“Thank you so much!” Aubrey gushed while shaking Bridget’s hand and smiling the biggest, most people-pleasing smile that she could manage. Maybe things would finally work out. Or she would be back here in two weeks begging for roommate number four.

This sucked.

* * *

 

Aubrey got the phone call on Wednesday evening and nearly shouted with joy as Bridget’s name popped up on the screen of her phone.

“Hello?” Aubrey answered, trying her hardest to seem calm when inside she was freaking out.

“Hey Aubrey, it’s Bridget. I just want to let you know that we found an opening for you down the hall. You’ll be in 3H and her name is Chloe Beale. You can move in tomorrow afternoon, after your classes and everything.”

“Chloe Beale?” Aubrey repeated the name, making sure that she got it right. “I’ve never met her before. Why is her roommate moving out?”

“That’s confidential, Aubrey.” Bridget sighed at Aubrey’s words, knowing that she was already going into this with a negative attitude. “If you must know, her roommate is moving to an off-campus apartment.”

“Oh, that’s good then…” Aubrey trailed off, unsure of what else to say as she tried to place Chloe among the nineteen other girls that lived on her floor. Albeit, she didn’t really know any of them, but she could just imagine what this girl was like. Maybe she was the girl that she found passed out in the shower last weekend, covered in puke and permanent marker, or the girl that was rumored to have slept with half of the football team already.

O _h God_ , Aubrey thought to herself, her mind instantly jumping to the worst possibilities. She had never known a “Chloe” before and she could just imagine what someone with that name was like. She was probably a ditz or a drunk or worst of all, a slut. It would be just like Nicole, her first roommate, all over again. Her parents had driven down for parent’s weekend two weeks into the semester and her father had wanted to see her dorm room. Aubrey had been so excited to take him up and show him what she had done to the place and to show off the little pond that was directly below her window.

She  _did not_  expect him to walk in on Nicole and her boyfriend making out on her bed, half naked and moaning. She had blushed as Nicole desperately tried to re-button her shirt and stammered as her boyfriend grabbed the nearest pillow and put it over his crotch. She had never seen her father’s face become as red as it did that day and within days, and after one  _very_  angry phone call from one of the college’s biggest donators, Aubrey was in a new dorm room. This couldn’t happen again.

“Aubrey?” Bridget asked, trying to get the girl’s attention for the fifth time. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. So…I can just move my stuff in any time that I’d like?”

“Yep and Aubrey…please try to make this one work. She’s a really sweet girl and I think that you two will get along great. Okay?”

“Sure and thank you, Bridget.” Aubrey smiled and hung up the phone, plugging it back into the wall and throwing herself across her bed as she glared up at the ceiling. ‘Sweet’…that’s what Bridget had said about the last one and how had that turned out? She was cursed.

* * *

 

Chloe wasn’t there when Aubrey moved her stuff in and Aubrey was kind of thankful for that fact. She wanted to take care of this on her own and she didn’t want to be a bother by interrupting the girl if she was in the middle of something. As she unlocked the door and walked into the room for the first time though, she wasn’t expecting it to be so…nice. She expected someone named Chloe to be frazzled and a mess, but all of her stuff was tucked away neatly on her side of the room and there wasn’t anything hanging on the walls or thrown on the floor.

Aubrey managed a tiny smile as she took everything in, mentally giving the girl a thumbs up for avoiding the terrible cliché of bunk beds, and dragged her suitcase across the linoleum floor and over to her twin bed. As she hoisted it up and grimaced as the wooden frame quivered under its’ weight, she froze when she saw a small note on the bed side table.  _She’s probably warning me not to touch her stuff._

Aubrey ignored it for a while and went back out to the hallway, making trip after trip until all of her stuff was in the room and lying in disorderly piles all over her half of the room. This was her least favorite part of this whole thing and it hurt to get settled in somewhere only to have to pack up and leave again. She had done that countless times growing up, with her father’s job taking them all over the country, and she had just wanted some normalcy at college. She had  _craved_ it and so far, it was all the same.

As she placed her laptop on the desk and plugged it in, she couldn’t take the anticipation any longer and picked up the note, unfolding it and reading it.

_Hi Aubrey, I’m so sorry that I couldn’t help you move in. I had my lit class this afternoon and we had an exam so I couldn’t miss. I can’t wait to meet you though! –Chloe_

Aubrey smiled as she tucked the note into her pocket and started to put her stuff away in silence, feeling calm for the first time in hours. That was short-lived though as she started to hang her shirts up in her cupboard and nearly jumped out of her skin when the door flew open and a girl with flaming red hair burst in, pulling her in for a tight hug.

“You must be Aubrey!” The girl practically screamed into her ear as she squeezed her tightly. “We’re going to have so much fun! Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“I. Can’t. Breathe.” Aubrey choked out while wiggling in Chloe’s arms. Chloe just laughed and released her grip on the girl, smiling up at her and patting her arm as Aubrey took a few deep breaths. When she finally caught her eye, Aubrey nearly toppled over again. This wasn’t the slutty girl or the girl that had to have her stomach pumped after Aubrey had found her. This was the girl that was always smiling as she got ready in the morning in the communal bathroom and who had held the door open for Aubrey when she moved her stuff in on her first day at the school.

Her smile was warm and as she went to pull her in for another hug, Aubrey let herself melt into her arms and just stood there as the girl started to rattle off random facts about herself and everything that they were going to do together. It was…strangely nice and Aubrey found herself completely entranced by her soft voice and the bluest eyes that she had ever seen.

For the first time since pulling up to her building on her very first day, she actually felt like things might be okay and she couldn’t help smiling back at Chloe and nodding along with her list of favorite movies as she flung an arm around her back and led her up the hill to the dining hall.

Maybe it would be different this time.

* * *

 

“What’s your favorite color? How many siblings do you have? Why are you a pre-law major?”

“Really, Chloe?” Aubrey asked as she swallowed her mouthful of potato chips and shook her head. “What is this, twenty questions?”

It had been like this all night since they got back from dinner. The girl didn’t seem to have an off button and she had asked Aubrey a million questions during the walk back to their building and when she helped her get her stuff put away and as they flipped on the TV and watched some mindless reality show that Chloe loved.

“I’m sorry”, Chloe softly apologized as she backed off a little. “I just want to know everything about you. My last roommate was always on the phone with her boyfriend and we never talked. I can be a little much sometimes…”

“That’s fine”, Aubrey mumbled as she tried to soothe the girl who had looked like a puppy left out in the rain as the comment had slipped from Aubrey’s mouth. “I just want you to breathe a little. We have all night to get to know each other and I’d like to know stuff about you too.”

“Okay, I’ll take it a little slower.” Chloe smiled, relieved that she hadn’t offended the girl or scared her away. She just…she wanted to make her feel comfortable in her new room and she knew that she was acting like a major creeper, but that was just how she got sometimes. “So, what’s your favorite color?”

Aubrey grinned at the girl, watching her visibly force herself to take it slow, and replied “Red.”

“Oh my God, me too! Well, it used to be green, but  _everyone’s_  favorite color is green now and then I thought that it might be pink, but that’s such a girly color and I should probably shut up now.”

“You’re okay.” Aubrey laughed as Chloe blushed and shook her head, mumbling something to herself that Aubrey wasn’t able to hear. “I don’t have any siblings and I want to be a lawyer because my father thinks that I would be really good at it. Now, you know absolutely  _everything_  that there is to know about me.”

“Really?” Chloe questioned while arching an eyebrow. “I can’t possibly know everything about you. Tell me something interesting.”

“Um…I’ve never been camping before.”

“Seriously?!” Chloe blurted out while Aubrey bit back a smile. “How have you never gone camping before? Everyone goes camping.”

“Not my family. My dad is a creature of comfort and he loves hotels too much to ever rough it in a tent.”

“I can’t believe that. You’ve missed out on a vital part of growing…”

Aubrey just rolled her eyes as she leaned back against her pillows and let the girl ramble on, finding comfort in her light voice filling up the room and making her feel like she could fall asleep at any moment. It was comfortable and it was nice…really nice.

* * *

 

Chloe tugged her blouse down over her head, completely oblivious to the fact that Aubrey was blushing at having seen the girl clad in just a bra, and said “What are your plans tonight? Some friends invited me over to the party at Sigma Beta Theta. Apparently they have one every Friday night, but I’ve never been before. Are you going out?”

Aubrey bit her lip, peering up at Chloe from behind her textbook, and softly replied “Um…all of my friends are busy tonight. I think I’m just going to stay in and study all weekend. I have a pretty big test on Monday in my Intro to Economics class and I can’t flunk it. Maybe next weekend…”

Chloe froze for a moment, her shirt hanging around her neck as she considered what Aubrey had just said. There was something in the way that her voice had trailed off at the end of her sentence that made Chloe’s stomach ache. It made the back of her throat burn and tears prick in her eyes as she realized that maybe Aubrey didn’t have many friends. No one that was as smart as Aubrey would have trouble with an econ class and her excuse was completely bogus.

She looked down at the floor as she pulled her arms through the sleeves and felt her face burn with guilt. She should have figured it out sooner when Aubrey hadn’t texted anyone all evening or mentioned anything fun that she had done on campus. She should have known and it made her heart ache. No one should be alone at college.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Chloe smiled as Aubrey simply nodded and looked away, reading over the same few lines on the page that she had been stuck on all night. “I’ll um…I’ll see you later, Bree.”

“Yeah, I’ll see ya.” Aubrey flashed her a tiny smile and watched as Chloe flung her purse over her shoulder and walked through the door, heading off to friends and fun and everything that Aubrey would never get to experience.

* * *

 

Chloe got off at the bus at the nearest plaza and walked into the  _Wal-Mart_ , walking around aimlessly until she found an associate who actually looked interested in helping her.

“Can I help you, miss?” The older woman asked the girl who looked like she was searching for something.

“Um, yes actually, you can.” Chloe smiled at the woman before continuing. “This might sound kind of weird, but do you sell those stars that glow in the dark that you stick on your ceiling? I need them for a friend…”

* * *

 

Aubrey balanced her shower caddy in one hand as she fumbled for her room key with her other. Once she slid it out of her bath robe, she opened the door and nearly dropped the bag when she saw Chloe standing on her bed, smiling as she pressed her hand to the ceiling.

“What the hell are you doing?” Aubrey asked as she took her bathrobe off and hung it in her closet. “I thought you were going to the party.”

“I was thinking about it”, Chloe began as she took her hand away from the ceiling and carefully got down from the bed. “But then I realized that I’d much rather spend the evening with you. I can get drunk anytime, but we can only have a girl’s night to celebrate becoming roommates once. So, I went to the store and I bought us some ice cream and a movie. Could you turn the light out for a second?”

Aubrey nodded as she bit her lip and slid her hand over the light switch, turning it off and freezing when Chloe gasped with delight.

“Look at the ceiling, Bree! Aren’t they amazing?”

“What did you do to our room?” Aubrey questioned as she stared up the ceiling and tried not to smile. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

“No!” Chloe exclaimed while pushing Aubrey onto the bed. “You said that you’ve never been camping before and I can’t let you live your life without experiencing that. So, I brought camping to you.”

“The stars on the ceiling…” Aubrey trailed off, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears as she finally understood what Chloe had done instead of going to the party.

“Yeah, they’re supposed to be like camping under the stars. I know it’s not the same, but it’s the best that I could do. The same with roasting marshmallows. I’m  _pretty_  sure that Bridget would kill us if we actually built a fire in here, so Rocky Road is the closest I could get to smores.”

“Why did you do this?” Aubrey asked while lying back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. “You don’t even know me.”

“Well, I just felt like it.” Chloe smiled and popped the DVD into her player before climbing onto the bed next to Aubrey. “Besides, I’d much rather spend the evening here, annoying you, than getting drunk with a bunch of assholes that I don’t even like. I’m pretty cool like that.”

“Oh”, Aubrey smiled while moving over to give Chloe some room. “Well, thank you for all of this. No one has ever done anything like-“

“-Shh! The movie is starting!”

“What are we even watching?” Aubrey whispered as Chloe practically laid on top of her, resting her head next to Aubrey’s on the pillow and turning up the volume on the television.

“ _Clueless_. It’s my all-time favorite. Have you ever seen it?”

“No”, Aubrey murmured as she pulled the blanket around her body and got comfortable, bracing herself for Chloe’s eventual freak out.

“Are you serious?! How have you possibly made it to the age of eighteen without camping or seeing classic movies? Were you raised in a convent?”

“No!” Aubrey exclaimed as she shoved Chloe and laughed. “I was raised with art and music, not this… garbage.”

“I beg your pardon, Ms. Posen.” Chloe teased as she shook her head and laid back down next to Aubrey. “This is art. Okay, so this is Cher, my favorite. She was named after a famous singer of the past who now does infomercials…”

* * *

 

For the first time in her life, Aubrey didn’t feel like an outcast as she stuffed her mouth with ice cream and hung on every word that escaped from Chloe’s lips, laughing too hard at her stupid jokes and teasing her endlessly as the night wore on. It all happened so naturally that Aubrey didn’t even have time to consider how nice this was; having a friend and a connection. She was just happy and that was enough to push those thoughts from her mind.

Lying on the too small bed next to this radiant girl and soaking up everything was enough. It was the closest Aubrey had ever felt to being at home and as Chloe reached out for her hand as the end of the movie neared, she never wanted the night to end.

As her eyes grow heavy though, Aubrey was sure that she had never been this happy before; pressed up against a girl that just wouldn’t shut up, with the prettiest eyes that she had ever seen and the warmest voice that put her completely at ease. With a hand squeezing hers and letting her know that she wasn’t leaving. That there was no escaping Chloe Beale once she fell in love with you.

Aubrey knew that she was in trouble now, but somehow she didn’t mind. She was happy and at home and her heart was so full that she feared that it might eventually burst.

Maybe the third time was the charm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Titles comes from After An Afternoon by Jason Mraz


	2. Of Shopping Carts and Bumpers

“We  **don’t**  need more spider webs,” Aubrey snipped as she took the package from Chloe’s hands and put it back on the shelf. “We’re having a Halloween mixer, not turning the auditorium into a haunted house.”

“If Alice is there, I’m pretty sure that everyone will be scared. Besides, it’s not like anyone will actually come. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly popular on campus.”

“Still”, Aubrey started while moving the shopping cart forward, “that doesn’t mean that we half-ass our duties. According to Alice, being in charge of the decorations is a very important honor.”

“An honor?” Chloe questioned while smirking at Aubrey. “We’re the only juniors, Bree. I think this is basically slave labor.”

Aubrey sighed and stopped the cart, facing Chloe and raising an eyebrow with light disgust written on her face.

“What?!”

“You’re ridiculous and offensive. Sure, Alice might not have asked anyone else to do this, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do a good job.” Chloe rolled her eyes and pouted, but Aubrey refused to give in to her. “We  _should_  try to get along with her, Chlo. I’m sure that it’s a ton of work being the captain and next year we’ll be in her shoes. Now, do you think we have enough stuff?”

Chloe looked down at the shopping cart full of pumpkins and candles and decorations and just smirked. Aubrey was a worrier. Everything, even the tiny stuff, could easily become something that she over thought and Chloe loved that little quirk. This morning, she had nearly barfed as she paced the room over a stain on her Bellas blouse and now, she was freaking out over pleasing Alice. It wasn’t that she liked seeing her roommate work herself into a tizzy, but she enjoyed being the one to talk her down. It made her feel important and honestly, she just liked holding her or soothing her. Taking care of Aubrey… was nice. Really nice.

“Yeah, I would say so. We’ve already been here for an hour and it’s going to take nearly that long to check out. Remind me to never go shopping with you.”

“Oh, you love it”, Aubrey shot back while smiling. “Besides, how would you get the stuff that you need for school without me? You don’t complain about my company when you’re buying shampoo or new outfits. Who would drive you to the store? You need to ask Papa Beale to open up his wallet and get you a car.”

“Oh, shut up!” Chloe exclaimed while shoving Aubrey. “Believe me, I’ve asked and the answer is always no. Jack ruined that when he totaled the station wagon. Besides, not everyone can have a rich daddy like you.”

“That’s true.” Aubrey smiled while turning into the liquor aisle. “Or I’m just lucky that I don’t have an idiot big brother like you do. Now, what kind of alcohol should I buy myself for later? That’s one of the perks of being 21. Since you don’t like my company, I’m not buying you anything. I’ll just have to enjoy a bottle of-“

“-Boone’s Farm!” Chloe exclaimed while grabbing the bottle off of the shelf. “Come on Bree, you know that I love you.”

 “I know how to buy your affection”, Aubrey quipped with a smile and placed the bottle in the cart. “Now, let’s get back to campus before Alice asks where we are and kills us for being late.”

* * *

 

“Chloe! You’re going to get killed doing that!”

Chloe just smiled and flicked her foot along the ground, building up speed before she put both feet on the back of the cart and glided along the sidewalk. She loved doing this as a kid and she wasn’t surprised that Aubrey was freaking out. She freaked out about anything fun.

“Seriously?!” Chloe called over her shoulder. “How does one get killed on a shopping cart, Bree? Didn’t you do this when you were a kid?”

Aubrey ran after her and grabbed the cart, stopping it from rolling forward and shooting Chloe a glare as she pushed her off of it.

“No, my father didn’t let me do anything stupid. From what I’ve heard about your parents, I’m surprised that you’ve actually made it to twenty years old. Besides, look at all this stuff in the cart. Alice would kill you if you broke anything.”

Chloe shrugged and walked next to Aubrey as she pushed the cart, trying not to smile as she muttered “You’re such a drag.” Aubrey just shook her head and Chloe smirked as an idea popped into her head. “Hey! I think you dropped your lanyard back there. Isn’t it green?”

Aubrey stopped pushing the cart and felt around her neck for the lanyard with her school ID and room key on it. When she didn’t find it, she looked back at the ground behind her and arched an eyebrow when she didn’t see anything on the pavement.

“What are you talking about?” She asked while turning around. “Hey! What are you doing?!” Aubrey called after Chloe, who had jumped onto the back of the cart and was picking up speed as she rode it towards Aubrey’s car. “I swear, if you hit  **anything,**  I’m going to pretend that I don’t know you! I’ll let the police take you away, I swear.”

“Live a little, Bree!” Chloe called over her shoulder as she pushed her foot against the pavement and gained speed. Once she picked up enough speed, she put her foot back onto the cart and rode it towards the car, laughing as the wind pushed back her hair and the sensations from her childhood came rushing back.

“Chloe, slow down!” Aubrey barked out as she ran after her. “There are a million cars in this parking lot and…” She trailed off as Chloe looked over her shoulder and smiled. Her roommate was far too stubborn to listen to her and she stopped running and just watched for a moment. It actually seemed  _kind_ of fun, but she would never admit that to Chloe. She couldn’t let her win over something so stupid.

Chloe  _was_  picking up speed though and as she neared Aubrey’s car, she momentarily panicked. It had been fun to relieve her childhood, but she forgot one important aspect of those memories: How to stop the cart.

* * *

 

Aubrey tried not to get angry with Chloe. She loved her roommate and sure, she could be really annoying sometimes, but she had always managed to keep control of her temper around her. She hated arguments and she couldn’t imagine living with someone in a tiny door room and constantly fighting.

**This**  was definitely not one of those moments, because now? She was angry. Furious really, because Chloe could be really stupid sometimes. Stupid enough to wash red with her white clothes. Or to sleep through Bellas’ practice just to piss off Alice. Or to crash a shopping cart into the back of her roommates’ car.

Aubrey had stood still in the parking lot as it happened, watching in shock as Chloe struggled to stop the speeding cart with her foot. Her mouth had dropped open when she slammed into the back of the car and she had no words to say to her. There were no words for something this stupid.

Well, maybe there were  _some_  words and Aubrey couldn’t control them as they slipped out of her mouth and into the ears of her roommate.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Chloe?!”

So much for controlling her temper.

* * *

 

“My dad’s going to kill me!” Aubrey exclaimed as she ran her hand over the huge dent in the back of her Buick. “He’s  **literally**  going to drive down from Wilmington and murder me.”

“Ow!”

Chloe was lying on the ground next to the cart, holding her face and wincing as the pain finally kicked in once the shock left her body. Aubrey didn’t care though. There could literally be blood all over the place or a bone sticking out of her arm and she still wouldn’t stop fawning over the car. Any punishment from her father easily overrode Chloe’s dramatics.

“Do you know how much this is going to cost to fix?” Aubrey asked, starting to panic now as she ran the calculation in her head. “I’ll have to take it to a body shop and they’ll charge me way too much because I’m just a college girl and I don’t know anything about cars.”

“Bree-“

“They’ll have to push the dent out and then they’ll have to repaint the bumper. What if they can’t fix it?!” She was freaking out now, running a hand through her hair and taking deep breaths as she desperately tried to calm herself down. “Oh God, what if I have to get a new bumper? I’m so dead. He won’t let me come home for Christmas and I’ll have to spent it alone and I’ll-“

“-Bree!”

“What?!”

“Am I bleeding?” Chloe pulled her hands away from her face and gasped when she saw blood all over her hands. “Oh my God, I’m going to bleed to death.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes and kneeled down next to Chloe, grasping her chin in her hand and examining the cut on her cheek. It was just a little cut, but Chloe was in shock and everything was escalated. Aubrey examined her arms and fussed over the brush burn for a few moments, before determining that she was okay and turning her attention back to ruined car.

“Will I need stitches?”

“It’s not that bad, Chloe. Now, get up and help me figure out what we’re going to do.”

“Wow, Aubrey, way to worry about my well-being. I could have a concussion!”

“Chloe!”

“Okay, I’m getting up! Jeez, calm your pits, Bree.”

* * *

 

“If he doesn’t let you come home for Christmas, you can always stay with me. We have a spare bedroom and it’ll be fun!”

“No it won’t, Chloe!” Aubrey snapped as she glared down at the car. “I’ve heard what happens at your house during the holidays and it definitely won’t be fun!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean! Last holiday break you got stoned with your brother constantly and partied with his friends. I  **still**  have the text messages and that voicemail of you screaming the rap from  _Rapture_  into my phone at four in the morning. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” Chloe smiled, remembering last Christmas and how much fun her brother used to be before their parents came down on him after nearly flunking out of school. “It’ll be different this year. Jack doesn’t party anymore and I think he’s actually spending the holidays back at school. It’ll just be you and me.”

“That’s not the point, Chloe! I want to go home and actually sleep in my own bed.” Her eyes were filling with tears now as she started to panic. “My mom always makes cookies on Christmas Eve and all of my cousins come over and it’s…he’s not going to let me come home.”

“I’ll pay for it. Just please don’t cry.” Chloe started to rub her back, trying her hardest to calm her best friend and to keep her from fully breaking down. She hated seeing her cry and she especially hated when she was the cause of it. “It’ll be okay, I swear.”

“That’s what you said about riding on the cart and look where we are now! You could have really gotten hurt, you idiot.” She swiped a hand over her eyes, blinking furiously as the tears started to slip without her control. “Look at this, Chloe!”

“I know, Bree. I’m so sorry.”

“That doesn’t fix the car. What am I going to do?”

“We’ll think of-“

“Maybe I can cash in one of my savings bonds. My dad will kill me when he finds out, but what other choice do I have. Maybe I could set up a payment plan…”

“Bree-“

“Or I could put it on my emergency credit card and hope that he doesn’t get the bill until after winter break…”

“Aubrey!” Chloe shouted, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around so they were face to face.

“What? What can you possibly do to make this-“

Chloe surged forward and pressed her lips to Aubrey’s, muffling any words that were meant to be spat out at her and wrapping an arm around her as she returned the kiss. They stayed that way for a while, kissing and kneeling next to the car behind a knocked over shopping cart. Chloe was sure that they looked like idiots, but Aubrey was actually returning the kiss and there was no way that she was pulling away. She had waited for this forever.

* * *

 

Eventually it ended though and Aubrey pulled back slowly, cupping Chloe’s face with her hands and gingerly rubbing her thumb over the gash on her cheek.

“How did you know?” She asked tentatively, smiling at Chloe as their eyes met.

“Know what?” Chloe’s voice was tender as she smiled back at her and ran a soothing hand over her back.

“That I’ve wanted to kiss you since…since the first weekend that we spent together as roommates. When you stuck those dumb glow in the dark stars all over our ceiling and got into bed with me. Because-“

“-Because you’ve never been camping. Yeah, I remember that night and it started for me then too.” She traced her thumb over Aubrey’s swollen lips and bit the inside of her mouth, suddenly anxious as she remembered just how angry she had been before she quieted her with her lips. “Are you still mad at me? I’m so sorry.”

“I know”, Aubrey replied while glancing at the bumper. “You know how I get sometimes. It’s just that my dad…” She couldn’t continue, her throat suddenly burning as the tears reappeared in her eyes.

“I know”, Chloe whispered while pulling Aubrey back into her arms and kissing the top of her head. “It’ll be okay, Bree. I’ll fix everything and it’ll all be alright. I promise.”

* * *

 

And Aubrey believed her. She always had and she always would.

And everything was okay.


	3. Anchors Away

“I don’t want to be like my parents.”

Chloe’s voice broke through the dim of the room, invading Aubrey’s ears as she opened an eye and peered across the expanse at her. She was awake. Her eyes were open and she was staring up at the ceiling and Aubrey knew that this wasn’t good. She was the thinker, Chloe was the feeler. When the roles were reversed, bad things happened.

“Why?” She asked, whispered and tentative as Chloe flinched. She had thought that Aubrey was asleep, but she wasn’t. She was awake and exhausted, but ready to listen. That’s what she was for.

Chloe was quiet for a little while, silent as she memorized the ceiling above her and fell in love with the patterns and the cracks and the shadows in the night. She had done this every night for six months now, flopping onto her twin bed and just thinking as she stared up, imagining her future some nights and in others, thinking about her past. It was calming and while she would never let on to it, she kept a lot of stuff inside and it was nice to take inventory of it sometimes. To sort things out before she ended up going crazy. To figure out who she wanted to be and what kind of life she desired as graduation rapidly approached.

If she wanted to share her life with the girl snoring across the room. If they would last. If her heart could keep loving her from miles away.

The kind of thoughts that made her heart pound and her head hurt. The worst kind of ache. The fear of the unknown and the threat of losing her. She hated going to sleep.

“Do you ever think of all the places that you haven’t seen?”

Aubrey didn’t say a word, letting the words sink in and allowing herself to take in the emotional lilt in Chloe’s voice. She was thinking again and worrying about graduation. She knew it from the way she had thrown her cap and gown into the closet three days ago and how she refused to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

She was going to law school in Boston and Chloe would be in New York. For the first time in four years they were going to be apart and it was scary.

“My parents haven’t been anywhere”, Chloe continued, whispering and sniffling occasionally as the tears started to well in her eyes. She didn’t know why she was crying, but she made no attempts to stop herself. She didn’t want to stop.

“They’ve lived in the same town since they were born and worked at these jobs that they hate and they don’t expect anything more. The furthest my parents have gone from Florida is to San Francisco and that was only for a couple days. I don’t want to be like them, Bree.”

“You won’t, Chlo.” Aubrey soothed, her voice tender as she slowly sat up in bed and stared at her girlfriend. She hated when she got like this. “You’re going to New York next semester. You’ll be in classes that they’ve only read about in books and you’ll see places that they can only imagine. You can go to Manhattan or Brooklyn or see the Statue of Liberty any time you want. You won’t be like your parents, I promise.”

“But…what if one day I just stop trying?” Her voice cracked, betraying the tears that were now sliding down her cheeks.  _Why can’t I stop crying?_  “I want to see the world, Bree. I want to see everything and what if I d-don’t.”

“You will.” Aubrey joined her on her bed, rubbing her back and easing her onto her back so she could hold her hand and see her face. “You’ll see the places that you’re meant to see. You’ll do the things that you’re supposed to do and meet the people that you’re supposed to meet. Most of all though, you’ll live the life that is meant for you. You’ll be perfect.”

Chloe smiled and leaned forward to kiss Aubrey, pressing their lips together firmly and just letting Aubrey hold her as she calmed down. After a few moments of bliss, Chloe motioned for Aubrey to lie down next to her on the bed and pulled the blanket up and over their bodies. Aubrey’s hand somehow made its way into her own and she squeezed it back, the warm breath expelling from her lips as sleep suddenly seemed so perfect.

“I want to see London and Paris. The Eiffel Tower in the fall.”

Warm lips were pressing against her hair and she could feel Aubrey’s head nod in agreement. She was glad that they were on the same page, that she wasn’t alone.

“I want to go to Germany and Africa and Japan.” Chloe paused, fighting back the sleep that threatened to overtake her as her voice grew softer and softer. “I want to go to Hawaii like the Brady Bunch.”

Aubrey smiled, kissing the tiny space below Chloe’s ear that she loved and trying not to laugh. Her girl was back. The girl with ridiculous thoughts and ideas, who could bring her to her knees with a perfectly timed quip or an impossibly cute anecdote.

She loved her.

“I’ve heard that Switzerland is beautiful. They have mountains and snow and pretty buildings.” She tugged Chloe a little closer, whispering into her ear as she started to drop over the edge and into her dreams. “I’d take you skiing and we’d stay in a little lodge and curl up on a bearskin rug. Clothing would be optional.”

Chloe giggled, her breath sweet as it hit Aubrey’s lips and made her swoon. This was her favorite shade of Chloe. Sleepy and laughing and smiling and perfect. Her hair tousled and her lids heavy as they threatened to slip over those eyes with the gorgeous flash of blue. She longed to lay like this all night, but the sleep was biting at her own heels and it was time to give in.

“Will you come with me, Bree?” Chloe’s voice was tiny and Aubrey knew that she was gone, lost in her dreams and her thoughts and the sleep that she desperately needed as well. Still, she mustered up the last reserves of her energy and leaned forward and whispered the words that she knew Chloe would never hear. The words that were resounding in her heart and bouncing in her head and landing on her tongue. The only promise she could make that she knew that she would keep.

“I’d go anywhere with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from Anchors Away by Sara Bareilles


	4. You, Me, and Mouse Ears

“Try this one on, it’s so cute!” Chloe grinned while pulling a classic Mickey hat off of the shelf, a felt beanie with big ears and room for your name to be stitched on the front. “We can get matching ones and get our names embroidered on them. They’re perfect!”

“Chloe, don’t even think about-”

She shoved the hat on top of Aubrey’s blonde locks and giggled at how awkward and cute her wife looked. Her hair hung in messy waves from underneath the tight hat and as she fussed with it, tugging at her hair and adjusting it so it didn’t rub her ears, Chloe fell in love all over again. 

Aubrey had a headache. Not a normal headache, mind you, but a migraine from hell that was solely reserved for nights like tonight. It could have been a byproduct of standing in the sun all day, but Aubrey knew better than that. It was probably from the screaming children that provided the soundtrack to her day or the six times that Chloe had forced her to ride Space Mountain. Heck, it could have been from her stomach dropping each time she saw how ridiculously overpriced every facet of the “Happiest Place on Earth” was.

Aubrey Posen was not a Disney person. She didn’t bawl when Scar killed Mufasa or when Bambi’s mother died. She didn’t go crazy for a movie about a lost fish or a singing mermaid. She didn’t “get” the whole appeal of Disney and if she had known when she said “I Do” that she was marrying someone who by her very definition could be considered a Disney Princess, she would have reconsidered her promise and took back the ring. 

It was Chloe that she had married though and she was smiling over something completely ridiculous as they stood in the gift shop and Aubrey forced the thoughts from her head as she tried to cheer up. Chloe was her weakness and as she shoved a keychain into her hands and blathered on about how adorable it would look on her new Dooney and Bourke handbag that her mother had bought her as a pre-wedding present, Aubrey just shook her head and smiled. One look at that soul-crushing smile and those perfect eyes and she could turn to a puddle of goo without any questions. If she needed to have a weakness though, she could do a lot worse than Chloe. 

“Bree, it’s just perfect!” Chloe cooed as she took it back and dangled it in front of her eyes, grinning as she moved it back and forth ever so slightly and fell in love with it all over again. “Maybe my students will see it and ask me about it too! I can tell them about our little trip and how we got stuck on Splash Mountain for an hour. They’d love that!”

“You’re crazy”, Aubrey replied while turning the rack of key chains and looking for one with her name on it. If she had to take a souvenir from this place, and Chloe had insisted that she wasn’t leaving without one, she could at least get something that was useful. “How is that a good memory for you? We were stuck at the top the whole time and it was so hot that you nearly passed out. This whole trip has been like that…”

“Don’t be silly”, Chloe sighed while joining Aubrey in her hunt for a keychain. “It was fun because I was with you. You sang that stupid Bruno Mars song that I used to love and rubbed my back when I nearly threw up. It wasn’t so bad, right?”

Aubrey could only nod in agreement, because outside all of the bad stuff, she had spent it with the person she loved the most in the world and maybe that made everything a little less bad. It was kind of nice actually. 

* * *

 

Aubrey had never planned on Disney World becoming the destination of choice for their honeymoon. In fact, she would have loved to have stayed in Maine after the wedding and rented a cute ocean front house, spending their week off at the beach and just lazing around all day. 

New York City would have been nice too, with sightseeing and Broadway, or even a trip back to North Carolina would have been great, baking in the humidity as they enjoyed the only state that had ever felt like home to her. Heck, she would have even settled for taking a page from her father’s romantic handbook and booking it to Niagara Falls, staring at the stupid tourist trap for a week and camping out in the hotel with Chloe the rest of the time. 

Anything would have sufficed. Anything but Disney.

* * *

 

She should have cleared her browsing history better. She should have prepared for the possibility of the old desktop that they shared in their apartment finally blowing up and Chloe needing to borrow her work laptop. She should have planned for Chloe to be nosy and to search her history, looking for a strange kink or a fact that she didn’t know about her wife-to-be.

Instead of finding something embarrassing though, she found a link to Disney’s website. A link that Aubrey had went to out of curiosity, after hearing that a coworker was planning a trip down there in the spring and wanting to see just how high the prices had climbed. She didn’t have a real interest in going, the family vacation when she was five having filled her Magic Kingdom quota for a lifetime, but Chloe didn’t believe her. Or, she may have believed her but she just didn’t care. 

Chloe had never been there before and it was just the spark that was needed to get the gears in her brain turning as she tried to convince her girlfriend that this was just what they needed. That they didn’t need long walks on the beach and sand beneath their toes. That the Empire State Building could wait. That Niagara Falls would be just as lame in ten years as it was now. 

None of those places had princesses and a giant castle and magic. It didn’t matter that she was 25 years old and decidedly not in the demographic that the park catered to. She was going and all it took was a week of nagging and withholding sex to get her way. 

Aubrey was a great lawyer, but Chloe was better. A pout and a whimper were more convincing than any of Aubrey’s logic and just fifteen hours after saying “I Do” in front of their family and friends, they were walking through the front gates of Chloe’s dream world. 

In the very excited words of Chloe Posen: “Best honeymoon ever!”

* * *

 

The day went something like this: Line, two minute ride, exiting into an overpriced gift shop, pushing through a crowd of people, line.

It was predictable and chaotic and Aubrey hated every moment of it. She hated the children that screamed in her ears when she just wanted to ride in peace. She hated how balmy outside it was, even in September, and the fact that she had forgotten sunscreen. She hated how achy her feet were in her stupid brand-new sneakers and how far apart each ride was. She hated the people, who pushed and shoved and were so impatient that they made her look like a saint. She hated everything.

She loved Chloe though and put up with it, pushing aside her frustration and exhaustion as she tried to understand just how much Chloe loved all of this. How she loved bustle and huge crowds, flitting along easily and keeping her ever-present grin on her face as she shrugged off long lines and broken down rides. How she could ignore a screaming baby or a rude ride attendant. How she was perfect in every possible way. 

Aubrey had a lot to learn and maybe this was just the start. Marriage was about compromising and maybe this trip was all that they needed to get things started off right. To learn and grow together and to start their marriage off with a bang. 

Fat chance.

* * *

 

Compromising wasn’t too hard, Aubrey decided. She could be good at that. All she had to do was keep her temper even and nod. Maybe even throw Chloe a carefree smile or a laugh. Compromise was okay. Compromising went like this:

“Chloe, my feet are aching. Can we please sit down for a little while?” Aubrey begged while motioning towards the perfectly good bench that was surprisingly vacant. 

“But Bree…”, Chloe began, biting her lip and pouting. “It’s Pirates of the Caribbean and it has Johnny Depp in it. You know how much I love Johnny Depp.”

Aubrey climbed in that stupid boat with Chloe and bit the inside of her mouth as she held back snarky comments about the horribly outdated animatronics.

Compromising could be okay.  

Or when Chloe grabbed her arm and tugged her towards the haunted mansion ride, even though Aubrey wanted her to sit down for a while after the disaster that was getting stuck on Splash Mountain for over an hour. 

“It’s 100 degrees out”, Aubrey reasoned while trying to direct her pale and sweating wife towards a shady spot. “Let’s get out of the sun for a little bit.”

“But it’s the Haunted Mansion, Bree!” Chloe practically stomped as she let go of Aubrey’s hand and glared at her, not understanding how she couldn’t understand that significance of riding the ride. 

Compromising sucked.

* * *

 

“No one ever has my name.” Aubrey sighed while turning away from the rack of key chains and shrugging her shoulder in defeat. “It’s always been that way. When I was little, all of the kids in my neighborhood had these little license plates with their names on them that they would put on their bikes. They never had ‘Aubrey’ so I had to have a stupid generic one with something on it like ‘Daddy’s Girl’ or ‘USA’.”

“Daddy’s Girl?” Chloe teased while trying not to laugh. “Awe, Aubrey, that’s terrible. Well, I’m putting mine back now. If you can’t have one, then I don’t need one either. We’ll just find something else.”

“Keep your keychain, Chlo. You really like it and you shouldn’t have to go without because I have an ‘exotic’ first name. I don’t need a souvenir, the memories of this day are enough.”

“Ha ha, nice sarcasm. I’m sure there’s something around here that will catch your eye, we just have to look for it…”, Chloe trailed off while gazing around the packed gift shop, looking for the one thing that screamed “Aubrey”. 

It wasn’t easy, finding a souvenir for someone as fickle as her wife, but Chloe eventually found it. She was good. 

The grimace and protests that spilt from Aubrey’s lips as she pointed towards the rack of hats was just the icing on the cake.

She was damn good.

* * *

 

“I don’t wear hats!” Aubrey exclaimed as Chloe pushed her over to the shelves and pointed at a cute visor with Minnie ears. “And I certainly don’t wear visors! Sometimes I don’t understand how I fell in love with someone with so little taste.”

“Try this one on, it’s so cute!” Chloe grinned while pulling a classic Mickey hat off of the shelf, a felt beanie with big ears and room for your name to be stitched on the front. “We can get matching ones and get our names embroidered on them. They’re perfect!”

“Chloe, don’t even think about-”

She shoved the hat on top of Aubrey’s blonde locks and giggled at how awkward and cute her wife looked. Her hair hung in messy waves from underneath the tight hat and as she fussed with it, tugging at her hair and adjusting it so it didn’t rub her ears, Chloe fell in love all over again. 

It was easy to fall in love with Aubrey Posen. She had done it every single day that she had known her, finding a new quirk or fact about her that she couldn‘t live without every day. Yesterday it had been the way her eyes glistened as she read her handwritten vows. Today it was mouse ears.

Marrying her was the best decision she had ever made.

* * *

 

 “A. U. B. R. E. Y”, Aubrey spelt out her first name for the sixth time as the elderly shop assistant started to embroider her hat. Chloe was trying not to laugh next to her and Aubrey couldn’t stop herself from chuckling as the absurdity of the whole situation kicked in. Of taking a honeymoon to a children’s theme park and riding all of the rides like they were kids. Of white knuckling the sides of the rocket as they barreled over the dips and turns of Space Mountain for the millionth time. Of getting a hat with mouse ears.

Chloe looked completely adorable in hers though and Aubrey absolutely melted as she tugged it down over her hair, adjusting it so her name was in the front and giggling as she looked at herself in the mirror and fell in love with felt, plastic, and absolute craziness. 

She had married a lunatic. A lunatic who looked amazing in a hat. She could think of a million worse things.

* * *

 

“You can keep fussing, Bree, but it’s not going to change the facts”, Chloe lilted as she pulled Aubrey’s hair out from behind her ears and tried to make it look decent underneath her Minnie hat. “You have big ears. Adorable ears, but also huge.”

“I’m not wearing this stupid hat”, Aubrey mumbled while beginning to pull it off. “I told you this was a stupid id-”

“-Hold your horses, jeez. Keep it up and I’m giving you pigtails.” Chloe threatened while pulling Aubrey’s hair back into a loose ponytail before stepping back to admire her handiwork. “You look so damn beautiful, Bree. Sometimes…I forget how stunning you are and all it takes is one look to completely take my breath away. How did I end up with someone as perfect as you?”

“Chlo…” Aubrey began before trailing off, the tears catching in her throat. Chloe may have been silly and annoying sometimes, but she loved her. She loved the moments where she could completely take her breath away with a single phrase. She was good with words, a product of her job as an English teacher, and Aubrey loved that about her. She loved everything about her though and she was the lucky one. 

“I guess they’re kind of cute.”

“We look so adorable!” Chloe grinned while they stared at their reflection in a mirror provided by the shop. “We’re like the perfect Disney couple!”

Chloe planted a huge kiss on Aubrey’s cheek and for once, she didn’t shy away. She hated all forms of PDA, knowing that a lot of people weren’t comfortable with two women being in a relationship, but at that moment she didn’t care at all. 

Chloe was perfect. They were perfect. This honeymoon was perfect.

* * *

 

Chloe slid her debit card back into her wallet and looked down at her feet as they started to stroll to the monorail that would take them to her resort. Aubrey could sense that something was wrong with her and placed a hand on the small of her back, caressing her gently with her fingers and trying to soothe whatever was bugging her wife. 

“What’s up?” Aubrey whispered, leaning close and kissing the sensitive skin behind Chloe’s ear. “Did you have too much fun? We get to do this for four more days, so don’t get too sad. We can come back tomorrow.”

“It’s not that”, Chloe murmured while leaning against Aubrey’s side and letting the taller girl guide them down the crowded sidewalk. “I just…I’m sorry for making you do stuff that you hate to do. I know that this wasn’t your dream honeymoon and I…thank you for letting me have this. For letting me do the one thing that I’ve always wanted to do. I love you.”

Aubrey stopped in her tracks and turned Chloe in her arms, holding onto her shoulders and looking down at her pouty lip and huge, sad eyes. In a movie, this would be the moment where she made a huge declaration of her undying love and they kissed, the music swelling and the scene fading to black as they lived happily ever after.

Aubrey hated predictable.

“You need to use sunblock tomorrow”, Aubrey warned while placing a kiss on both of Chloe’s bright red cheeks. “I don’t want you to get sun poisoning or something like that.”

The anxiety melted from Chloe’s face at the simple statement and Aubrey grinned while slinging an arm around Chloe’s back, holding her closely and walking with her down to the area where they would catch their ride back to their hotel. 

* * *

 

“Let’s stay at the hotel tomorrow”, Chloe whispered as they sunk onto a bench and waited for the monorail to arrive. “I kinda want to just spend the day in bed with you. Is that okay?”

“It’s perfect”, Aubrey replied while kissing the top of her head and absentmindedly turning the gold ring on her left hand. The perfect symbol of their love and a reminder that someone loved her enough to call her their own. “And Chlo…”

Chloe looked up at her, tears glistening in her eyes as she kissed her neck, and mumbled “What, Bree?”

“I love you too.”


	5. Room On The Third Floor

Aubrey hated this. She hated long nights pouring through interviews and piecing through files of evidence given to them from the district attorney. She hated the meetings that lasted all night as her firm tried to come up with their defense for their hopelessly guilty client. She hated the cheap hotel that the firm was putting her up in as the trial was taking place under heavy media coverage and they didn't want their lawyers to face any distractions. She hated all of this and yet...she couldn't imagine doing anything different with her life.

It was the nights like this that made her hate it. She was away from home and running on caffeine as she slammed her manila folder shut and shoved it into her briefcase. She was getting nowhere and she knew that her colleague Mark was going to give her shit tomorrow, but she didn't really care. She could always throw her impeccable win-loss record in his face and smirk when he tried not to act like it bothered him. She could ignore his macho act and just think about what was waiting for her at home, remembering that guys like this were the very reason that she swore off all relations with the opposite sex back in college to begin with.

It was an unusually warm autumn and the air conditioner was rattling in the background, blowing out warm hair that only made Aubrey tug at her night shirt and slam her hand on the metal casing. As she hissed and shook her aching fist, the unit quit working completely and Aubrey just rolled her eyes as she thrust open the curtain and yanked open the sliding glass door.

The cool air came flooding into the musty room and she leaned against the doorway, pressing her forehead against the cold glass and looking down at the city below. Pittsburgh was definitely  **not**  where she imagined herself ending up, but Chloe had found a great teaching job at a small private school that she couldn't say no to and Aubrey simply followed her. Lawyers were always in demand and it only took her a few weeks to find a position at a prominent firm in the city. It was hard to believe that five years had passed and as she looked down at the city below, she couldn't help but smile as she found it strangely beautiful. It was gritty and undignified and completely different than her hometown on the coast of North Carolina, but it was the first real home that she had ever known and she could accept its flaws for the memories that it afforded to her.

Her favorite? That would be impossible to pick, but she did have a few favorites. Like ice skating in the middle of the city with Chloe two winters ago and trying not to laugh when Chloe boasted about her skills and ended up falling and breaking her wrist. Or getting kicked out of a hockey game last fall after Chloe had become disorderly and gotten into a fight with a drunken fan from across the state. Life was different since Barden, but that didn't mean that it had to be bad and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

That being said, she just  _couldn't_  help herself from pulling out her cell phone and calling home. She knew that it was late, almost two in the morning, and that Chloe was probably sound asleep, but there was no falling asleep without hearing her voice. It was a habit that had been ingrained in her since their days as roommates back at Barden and as Chloe came on the other end and groggily muttered a greeting, Aubrey didn't feel so bad.

* * *

 

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be awake. I just wanted to call you and tell you good night. What are you up to?"

Before Chloe could venture a response, screaming came over the line and Aubrey sighed as Chloe told her to hold on and tossed her phone onto to bed. She should have known that something like this would happen, but Chloe had this way of making her lose her mind and she could just blame it on a temporary fit of forgetfulness. As the baby roared in the background though, she knew that she was at fault and she felt terrible.

She hated leaving Chloe at home with their eight week old daughter Lila, but Chloe had insisted that it was okay and that they would visit on the weekend when Aubrey had some time off. It was still awful though and as Chloe's voice came back over the line, soothing the infant with soft words, Aubrey's heart ached for the loss of contact with her family.

"It's okay, baby", Chloe lilted as she rocked the baby and cradled the phone between her shoulder and her cheek. "Mommy's sorry for calling so late. She won't do it again, right Bree?"

Chloe's soft words were having no effect on the restless baby and Aubrey started to apologize. What else could she do?

"I'm so sorry, Chlo. I forgot that it was so late and I know that I changed my ringtone on your phone to something really obnoxious and it must have woke her-"

"-Bree, stop apologizing!" Chloe cut her off while placing the baby on the bed and checking to see if she was wet. "She's a baby, it's what they do. She doesn't need changed and she ate a little while ago, so I don't know what's going on. Maybe she's just bored."

"She gets that from her mom!"

"Hey, I resent that comment!" Chloe snipped as she lifted the baby back up and put the phone on speaker so she could pace around the room. "Maybe she's moody; she could have gotten that trait from you."

"That's impossible since  **you**  carried her, but nice try." Aubrey smiled as Chloe laughed and the baby seemed to calm down. "Am I on speaker phone? You sound kind of…distant."

"Yeah, it's easier to just put it on speaker than to balance that and a baby. Keep talking Bree, she's calming down. Maybe she misses you."

"I doubt that", Aubrey muttered as she sunk onto the bed and leaned back against the headboard. "Now that I know that I have an audience, I don't know what to say. You give me performance anxiety."

"Sing us a song. You used to do that when she was still in my belly and maybe that will calm her down."

"No way! These walls are paper thin and I'm not waking up Tom and Tina downstairs."

"How do you know their names?" Chloe questioned as she kissed Lila's blonde ringlets and rubbed her back. "Are we making new friends in the big city?"

"No, I got to hear them screaming each other's names this morning when they had morning-"

"-That's enough! Tiny ears are listening and she doesn't need to know about that kind of stuff yet. Tell us a story, something cute with puppies or princesses."

"Chloe, you know that I'm not good at that stuff." Aubrey sighed while looking around the room for some kind of inspiration. If she had her iPad, she'd download a children's book and read it to them, but the hotel didn't have Wi-Fi and the device was useless. Next time, she was paying for her own room. A nice suite with a view of the city and a whirlpool; not a cramped room on the third floor with peeling wallpaper and a shower that constantly ran cold. She  **hated**  that she was even thinking about the next time when she missing so much at home. "Maybe I can read you guys some of my notes from the trial."

"Absolutely not!" Chloe practically screeched as she sunk onto her own bed. Sometimes dealing with Aubrey was like dealing with one of her students. "She's  **also**  way too young to hear about a murder. Look in the drawer; hotels usually throw something in there for you to read."

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but flopped over on the bed and slid the drawer open. "There's a bible", Aubrey muttered while studying the dusty book and placing it back in the drawer. "She's way too young for religion. I'm sorry Chlo, but all that's in here is a list of television channels and a phone book. Unless you want me to read from the phone book, I have nothing."

"Yes, do that."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah, what other choice do we have? Just flip it open and start reading. I'm kind of hungry so maybe go to the restaurant listing."

"You're so weird." Aubrey smiled as she sat back on the bed and flipped open the heavy book, paging through it until she reached the section dedicated to restaurants. The baby was still screaming in her ear and Aubrey grimaced before saying "Lila, let's tone it down a little so mommy can think."

"Bree, come on…", Chloe practically begged as she reached the end of her rope. The baby manuals that Aubrey had insisted that she read had no section on what to do when you were alone and your baby was angry with the world.

"Okay, I'm doing it." Aubrey sighed, blushing as she realized just how ridiculous this whole idea was. "Here we go: Mario's in the South Side has classic Italian dishes at a great modern price. They have pasta from $12.99 and prime rib on Saturday nights. They even have an adjacent parking lot."

Chloe laughed as Aubrey snorted and said "I'm pretty sure that the menu does  **not** go into that much detail, but you get an A for effort. What's so funny about the parking?"

"If you're paying $13 for a bowl of noodles, they better throw in a parking spot. How's she doing?"

"Better." Chloe smiled down at her daughter who was sleepily gazing at the cell phone, focusing on Aubrey's warm and animated voice as she spoke to her girls. She had started to whimper again as Aubrey grew quiet though and Chloe rubbed her stomach and tried to calm her. "Keep going, she's listening to you."

"The things I do for you, Chloe Posen. Let's try…ooh, a burger place!"

Chloe smiled and tapped her finger against the screen, pulling up the option to record the conversation and tapping that too. She  **had** to have a record of this, for when Aubrey insisted that she was the surly one and couldn't joke around. Or also to blackmail her with and threaten to send to their friends. She knew of one former Bella who would have a field day with this kind of material…

* * *

 

"Fatheads, on the party-crazy Carson Street, features sandwiches that are as big as your head. They also have beer specials and flaming hot wings _._ I don't know Lila, I don't think that have anything for a little girl to eat. I think we should just stick to the little café down the street."

The baby had fallen asleep on the bed and Chloe rubbed her fingers over her perfect face as her chest rose and fell. She looked so beautiful like this and Chloe wanted to savor this moment forever. She wanted to  **share**  this moment with her wife. She hated being alone.

"Should I keep going?"

"Um…yeah, she's still listening."

"Let's try something a little different. I'm tired of food. Here's one I think you'll remember under sporting venues. PNC Park, where on a very special night a few years ago, yours truly proposed to your mommy. It was a Saturday night and the Bucs had lost, but there were fireworks and it was the perfect summer evening. We were walking to our car alongside the river and I pretended to drop my keys and when your mom dropped down to help me look for them, I pulled out the ring. I can't wait until you're old enough for your first game. Maybe next season, since I think you're still too little to appreciate it. How's she doing, babe?"

"She's been asleep for about five minutes." Chloe whispered, her voice thick with emotion at the recollection of the evening. She couldn't believe that Aubrey remembered every moment of it, but she shouldn't have been surprised. She had married the smartest person that she had ever known and a closet romantic.

"Why did you let me keep going?"

"I just…I love hearing your voice. I can't believe that you remember that night. You hate baseball."

"Yeah, but I love you. Make sure that the front door isn't locked."

"Why? We live in the suburbs, but I'm not crazy enough to leave our door unlocked. I don't want to get robbed, silly."

"I'm coming home for the night. I can't sleep without you next to me and I want to see that little face. Besides, I missed your voice too and I want to see my girls, so leave the light on and I'll be home before you know it. Don't fall asleep!"

"I won't", Chloe murmured while swiping a hand across her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

 

She always had and she always would.

Sometimes life wasn't so bad after all. In fact, sometimes it was pretty great. Especially for Aubrey Posen, who had everything that she had always hoped for: a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from Room On The Third Floor by McFly


	6. How Loud Your Heart Gets

Aubrey merged onto the overpass that would take her from downtown to the suburbs and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that it wasn't packed with other motorists. It was nearly impossible to travel in the city at any time without sitting in traffic and getting flipped off by an idiot, but it was pleasant right now and a reminder that she was out way too late. Nothing good ever happened at three in the morning, but it wasn't like she had a choice. Her wife and baby were across the city and she couldn't spend the night without them. Logic would wait until morning.

As she entered the tunnel that would take her out of the city and to her small plan of homes, she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as the music cut out and she was met with silence. She never really understood the appeal of having a "tunnel song". Chloe had always insisted on having the perfect song to listen to when they drove through any tunnel, calling the radio silence "creepy" and having her iPod on stand-by when one neared, but Aubrey found it ridiculous. It was just a tunnel. The very same tunnel that a dumb girl rode through while standing up in the back of a truck and screaming, in some movie that Chloe had insisted that she watch with her a few weekends back.

Tunnels were dumb. This city was ridiculous. She just wanted to go home.

Home was Saturday morning breakfast and teasing Chloe as she cooked pancakes and put handfuls of chocolate chips in the sizzling batter. The smell of ink that permeated her office, filling every inch of the small room as she printed out countless blog posts and articles and book excerpts on any possible issue that they could face with a newborn baby. The moons and stars that decorated the ceiling above Lila's crib and the roll of Chloe's eyes as she couldn't stop herself from laughing at Chloe's suggestion that they were necessary because the baby could be afraid of the dark.

Home was red-hair and big blue eyes. The sweetest voice that she had ever heard in her life and the goofy giggles that she would collapse into when she really let her guard down and found something funny. Gorgeous lips and perfect hands and that one tiny memento on a finger that reminded Aubrey with a single glance that this girl loved her. That she had done one thing right in her life. That she had said "yes".

The road was empty as she came out of the end of the tunnel and she put her foot down, accelerating as she raced to get home. She could remember speeding down the same stretch a mere two months ago, swearing and panicking as she tried desperately to get to the hospital to be with her wife. All courtesy of a phone call from a nurse, declaring that her wife was in labor and that she needed to come to the hospital soon since the baby was coming fast. She didn't remember leaving work or going through the tunnel or weaving through the afternoon traffic to get to her. She remembered the other moments, the ones that shook her and haunted her dreams. Memories of Chloe's pale face and the beeping monitors, a doctor's confusing words until he hit "c-section" and the wait that felt like a lifetime as she paced the waiting room.

 _"And the perfect little girl that made it all worth it",_  Aubrey reminded herself as she neared the exit to home. She shook her head, ridding herself of all of the bad thoughts from that day and focusing on what she had waiting for her at home. She couldn't wait to pick her daughter up and hold her, just watching her little chest rise and fall as she slept. There was no better sight in the world and she knew that it sounded hokey, but it was true. She had never imagined herself becoming a mother when she was younger, but somehow she had fallen into the role and genuinely liked it. It had been weird at first, bringing a stranger that screamed all night and threw tantrums into her peaceful little home, but all it took was soft cooing and a little hand closing around a finger to soften her. Now...she couldn't imagine her life without the baby and while that had been scary at first, she had finally started to accept that she was a mom. That she had a daughter. That she wouldn't be like her father...

She shook her head again, blinking back the tears that had sprung into her eyes and looking around as she tried to focus on something different. As she neared the off-ramp for her exit, she spotted a billboard advertising season tickets for the Pittsburgh Pirates and she couldn't stop herself from grinning as she remembered that evening from so long ago. It was funny the way that life sometimes found a way of giving you exactly what you needed and as the colorful advertisement soon faded into the distance, she was catapulted back to that night. To a balmy July evening with the smell of rain in the air and the cheer of a crowd as fireworks exploded in the sky. The shaking of her fingers as they clutched the small box that was hidden in the corner of her purse and the way Chloe's eyes sparkled when she stumbled through those four little words.

The one word response that made her feel more love in a whisper than she had ever felt in her entire life. The moment that had kick-started the beginning of her life.

* * *

 

"But, Bree!" Chloe pouted, nearly dissolving into childlike protests as she stomped her foot against the pavement. "We're going to miss the best part! No one leaves during the ninth inning. What if they make a comeback?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. She loved Chloe, but sometimes she could be...ridiculous. Too optimistic, too encouraging, too empathetic, the list could go on forever. She was the opposite, grounded in reality and a cynic by nature and her upbringing. They were opposites, but they balanced each other and usually she loved that but not tonight. She didn't feel like sitting in traffic all night long and she had to ignore Chloe's protests and groans as they weaved through hordes of people and made their way out of the packed stadium of people enjoying a Saturday night game.

"They're losing 12-4, I doubt that they're going to make a miracle comeback anytime soon."

"But what about the fireworks! I  **love**  fireworks!" Chloe squeezed her hand and planted her feet, a last ditch effort to get Aubrey to stop before they reached the exit gates, but Aubrey just kept going and eventually, Chloe ran after her and took her hand again.

Aubrey hated baseball and she had no idea why this was so important to Chloe and why she had thrust the tickets into her hands on Friday afternoon as soon as she had walked through the front door of their apartment. When she had pressed for answers, Chloe had just shrugged and declared it date night. While date night could be nice occasionally, she couldn't wrap her head around why it had to be at a place like this. She hated drunk people and they had been surrounded by them in their bleacher seats as they watched the perennial losing team in front of them get destroyed by their rivals from Chicago. If Aubrey actually had an interest in the sport, then she could buy into the idea that they were finally winning and how the city had an electric current going through it as the idea sparked that this year could finally be "it", but she just didn't care. She didn't care for cheering and loud music, hotdogs and beer and sun beating down on neck. She liked movies and Italian restaurants and actually being able to hear Chloe's voice as they just talked. So, with all things considered, she was  **not**  going to stick around much longer for something as arbitrary as fireworks. Not when they could make them at home...

"-I haven't seen fireworks in person since I was a teenager." Chloe's voice cut back in, pulling Aubrey from her thoughts and bringing a tiny smile to her face as Chloe continued to ramble as they left the stadium and started on their mile trek back to the car. She  **hated** this city.

"Dad took us one 4th of July, the summer before Jack went off to college. We were visiting my grandparents out in San Francisco for vacation and he took us down to the beach to watch them. They were amazing! Blue and purple and gold..." Chloe trailed off, a little smile growing on her face as she remembered that night and the smell of saltwater and the cheers of the people who had gathered with them on the beach. Little kids pointing excitedly up at the sky and Jack's arm as he threw it around her back and teased her for giggling during the big ones. "I just really wanted to see fireworks tonight."

Aubrey held her hand a little tighter as they crossed the street and the stadium was behind them now, imposing and beautiful in the night sky. Aubrey wasn't one for baseball, but she had always had an interest in architecture and this place was gorgeous. The sight-lines were amazing and the view of the city across the river as the sun set had been amazing. It was almost enough to make up for the headache and the misery that was watching the poor display of athleticism in front of her. Almost.

She stopped for a moment, taking Chloe's hands in hers and holding them tightly as she gave her a tiny smile. Chloe had been angry, but all it took was one look at the apologetic expression on her girlfriend's face to cool her down. She could never stay mad at her.

"I'm sorry, but you know how traffic can get after a game. There's forty thousand people down here tonight and I just want to go home so we can have an actual date night. Maybe crack open a bottle of wine and watch-"

"-Oh my God!" Chloe screeched in excitement as the pop of fireworks exploding filled the air around them. They turned and Chloe practically bounced on the balls of her feet as the fireworks started to explode in the sky above PNC Park. Red and gold and shimmering as the cheers from inside the stadium became palpable as well. The display healing them of their anger after seeing their team getting beaten badly in the midst of a pennant race. They were idiots.

They weren't  _that_  bad, Aubrey decided as she wrapped an arm around Chloe's body and leaned against the brick facade of a restaurant as they watched the display. Chloe's giggles and tiny exclamations when a particularly good one filled the night sky was enough to help her brave the traffic. To give up her control and to let her win. To see her smile and feel her lips as they met the side of her neck and whispered tiny "thank yous" as the display started to end.

It was actually kind of nice. For baseball.

* * *

 

"So, why did you pick a baseball game for date night?" Aubrey asked as she held onto Chloe's hand and walked along the river with her to get to the casino where she had unwisely parked their car for the evening. There was no way that she was parking in a lot with drunk people and tiny spaces when she could have a valet do it for a little extra money. The mile hike was just a... _perk_  of safety. "We could have gone to  _Mario's_  and gotten that fettuccine alfredo that you love or we could have gone to  _The Warhol_  and looked at those dumb paintings of cans. Why baseball of all things?"

"It's July 5th", Chloe whispered as she leaned a little closer to Aubrey and held her hand. "It would have been Jack’s birthday today. He...he just really loved baseball."

It felt like someone had punched Aubrey straight in the gut as Chloe's voice became shaky and she trailed off as she fought back tears. How could she have forgotten about Jack? How could it have slipped her mind when every year Chloe got a little quiet on his birthday? How could she have missed the tears in her eyes when she opened the door yesterday or how she had been wearing one of his t-shirts in bed?

She was a terrible girlfriend and she felt terrible for pulling Chloe away from the people and the fun when she just wanted to remember her big brother. He had died the summer after their disastrous showing at ICCAs and Aubrey had gone to Chloe's side as soon as she heard the news, spending the summer with the girl as she tried to deal with the idea that she would never see him again. It was the worst time of Aubrey's life and she hated to think back on it, remembering how Chloe had wept and how she had nearly lost her. Now was all that mattered.

"I can't believe I forgot", Aubrey mumbled as she held Chloe's hand a little tighter. "Shit, I'm so sorry for complaining all night. If I would have known, I-"

"-I know", Chloe cut her off, smiling at her and squeezing her hand before leaning in and kissing the side of her face. "You don't have to remember little things like that. I don't even care about the fireworks or the game that much anymore. I just want to go home and climb in bed with you and forget about everything. You can open that Port that I like and we'll watch sappy movies all night. Okay?"

Aubrey just nodded and tugged Chloe a little closer to her, supporting her weight as their shoes crunching against the rocks below their feet was the only sound that mattered. Chloe was dozing off and her head was aching and she just wanted to go home. She had plans for tonight and the sooner they got home, the sooner she could go through with it. She had thought about it all night and if they  **had** gone to dinner or to the museum, she could have done it there. There was  **nothing**  romantic about a baseball game though, so it had to wait.

"I love you, Bree."

Those soft words whispered against her neck nearly sent her toppling to the ground. They hit her straight in her heart and she stopped for a moment, planting her feet as Chloe looked up at her in confusion.

_Time for Plan B._

* * *

 

Okay, so maybe she didn't have a back-up plan, but she couldn't let those words go unnoticed. She couldn't ignore the way that they sent shockwaves through her spine and made goose bumps appear on her arms. Of how perfect they sounded, even when she had heard them a million times before.

She couldn't wait any longer. She  **wouldn't**  wait.

"Bree, what's wrong?" Chloe murmured while rubbing a hand over her tired eyes. "Why are we stopping?"

"I um...I dropped my keys. They're not in my pocket and I think I heard them fall out when I reached in to grab them. Could you help me look?"

Chloe nodded and dropped down to her knees, not caring about grass stains or dirt as she felt around in the dark for the metal key ring. While she was distracted, Aubrey reached into her purse and felt around for the little velvet box that was hidden in the corner of the patent leather bag. Her fingers were shaking as she gripped it, but there was no going back as she pulled it out. She wanted this to happen and there was nothing to be afraid of.

Well...Chloe might reject her or run away, but she couldn't  _not_  do it. It was time.

"You know, Bree, it would help if you got down here and helped out a little too!" Chloe exclaimed as she felt around fruitlessly. "I can't believe that you lost the keys. How are we going to get home?!"

"Chloe-"

"-You're the one that asked for my help, but you're just standing there watching me. I don't even know what I'm looking-"

"-Chloe!"

"What?!" Chloe exclaimed while looking up at her girlfriend and frowning when she saw how pale she looked against the street light that was the only light around them. She slowly pulled herself to her feet and reached out to touch her, running her fingers over her sweaty cheeks and working out what was wrong with her. "Are you okay? We can call AAA and they'll come and let us in. We'll be okay and I'm sorry for-"

"-Ithinkweshouldgetmarried." She quickly slurred the words, fumbling over them and growing wide-eyed as Chloe just smirked and arched an eyebrow.  _Fuck_.

"Um...in English, please?" Chloe teased, reaching out for Aubrey's hand and pulling back when she felt the box that was clenched between her fingers. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she couldn't stop herself from grinning and shouting "Yes! I'll marry you!"

"Wait!" Aubrey exclaimed, her eyes growing wide as she fumbled with the box and popped it open, nearly losing the tiny ring as she dropped to one knee. "Let me do this the right way. I had this whole thing planned out and now I messed it up."

"My answer isn't going to change", Chloe whispered while reaching out for Aubrey's free hand and holding it tightly. "It's always been 'yes'."

"Will you..." She trailed off, her nerves taking over her and filling her mouth with cotton. All it took was a smile from Chloe and a reminder of her sweet words to clear it all up though. This was okay. This wasn't a mistake. She loved her back.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

And suddenly, everything felt a little less scary. That was what getting everything you ever wanted felt like.

It was amazing.

* * *

 

"I kinda wish that you would have asked me at home", Chloe teased while she played with the ring on her finger, spinning it around and memorizing every contour of the gold band as they started to drive home. "After I got a shower and into some new clothes. I'm all sweaty and I have mustard all over my shirt. That's not exactly a romantic memory."

"Well, I couldn't help myself and I love you, even if you do kinda stink and you can't eat a hot dog like an adult!"

"Hey!" Chloe exclaimed, reaching over and shoving Aubrey as they veered onto the highway and straight into a long line of traffic.  _It figures_. "I take offense to that comment, Bree! Maybe I'll give you this ring back and forget about your little proposal..."

"I love you, mustard stains or not." She reached out for Chloe's hand and held it tightly, rubbing her thumb over the ring absentmindedly as the traffic started to move at a snail's pace. "And I'd really hate if you gave it back."

"I was just kidding", Chloe whispered while raising Aubrey's hand to her lips and kissing it gently. "I could never say no to you. Now, get us home Bree. I have some ideas of how we can celebrate this and they definitely don't involve this car. In fact, it's just our bed and you and me and nothing on..."

This proposal thing?  **This**  was the best decision ever. It was better than enrolling in Barden or getting into her law school of choice. It was more profound than landing her dream job at a perfect little law firm or finding the apartment with just the right view of the city.

This was  **love**. This was all she had ever wanted.

It was pretty fucking amazing. And she couldn't wait for the rest of her life to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from How Loud Your Heart Gets by Lucius

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a slow effort to rescue my old fics from FF and Tumblr.


End file.
